A spectacular new visitor center, reinforced with stone and steel, has been built on top of 6,000 foot Grandfather Mountain, part of the Blue Ridge Range. The new center is the largest single construction project of the development program at Grandfather Mountain, housing meeting facilities, snack bar, gift shop, restrooms, and storage. New heavy-duty equipment for the U.S. Department of Commerce weather station will be installed near the center's flag pole.

During the closing days of 1931-1932, a period of time spanning less than 12 months, sea grass disappeared from the North Carolina sounds. Struck by a mysterious parasite, eelgrass disappeared in bodies of water throughout North America, Europe and the Mediterranean. Despite re-plantings of eelgrass to save ecosystems, the sea grass continued to die off until 1937 when it began growing again in the Chesapeake Bay area.

This year, for the first time, two North Carolina manufacturing plants were listed among the \"Top Ten\" factories in the United States. Nominated by Factory Magazine, Hanes Hosiery Mills Company in Winston-Salem, and Aeronautical Electronics, Inc. in Raleigh were elected on the basis of over-all excellence in planning and construction.

Francis V. Kughler discusses the design and creation of his Eighth mural Lafayette in the Old South. The mural, created for the Institute of Government building in Chapel Hill, represents the carefree way of life in the prosperous antebellum South, culminating with the Marquis de Lafayette's visit in 1825. Kughler discusses his historical research, and the study of human subjects which aided in the creation of his latest work.

In visiting a new area, people often ask about the location of good restaurant fare and entertainment, eliciting the response from most locals that there is little good to eat or fun attractions. The fiction that high-priced eating places will draw immense local crowds persists, and continues to trap enthusiastic people into making foolish investments. Drawing on the local restaurant fare and available leisure activities, a list of fine motels, outdoor dramas, and travel improvements aid the local and tourist alike in finding acceptable alternatives in North Carolina.

In an 1865 letter to J. Evans Brown in Australia, Governor Zebulon Vance writes he is depressed by defeat, without funds, and thinking of emigrating to Australia. Quickly recovering his optimism and fortune, Vance was re-elected as Governor in 1876 and later completed four terms in the U.S. Senate. Vance's letter to Brown, explained in further detail in the article, describes conditions in North Carolina at the end of the war and the start of Reconstruction.

The State of North Carolina now operates a ferry service between Atlantic and Ocracoke, reminding residents of a time almost sixty years ago when the eastern part of the state was better served by water transportation. Although the boat line has declined with the regular trade, several Washington men assure residents better boat service will resume in the near future. The new ferry reminds residents of bygone days when first-class steamboats of the Dominion line made the voyage to Ocracoke.